Pastor’s Corner
Evening Prayer . . . A Great Way to End the Day!
Last month, I mentioned how praying Luther’s Morning Prayer is a great way to start the day. Well, Luther also wrote an Evening Prayer that could be a great way to end the day! If you are unfamiliar with Luther’s Evening prayer, it reads as follows:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen. (Small Catechism, pg. 31)
As Christians, we never know what a day is going to have in store for us when we wake up. However, when we are going to bed at night, we can think back on the day and know exactly how that day went. It could have been a good day, or the opposite could have been true. We sinned against God, we commit errors against each other, even our health may have taken an unexpected turn. We could have had a very bad day!
So, there we are going to bed at night with a bad day in our rear view mirror. What do we do with that? Are we lying in bed stewing over what we did, and what we didn’t do? Are we laying there staring at the ceiling with regret thinking, “If only I had said that just a little bit differently.” As we are unable to sleep, are we thinking about what tomorrow is going to bring, afraid it might be worse than today?
What I love most about the Evening Prayer is not only do we ask God to forgive us of any sins we committed that day, but even more so, we pray this, “For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.” As we are preparing to close our eyes and rest for the night, we are resting not just into a bed, but even more so, we are resting in the loving embrace of our Savior Jesus Christ who will always order our days and our deeds with His peace. In this prayer, we are literally saying to Jesus, “Forgive me of my sins, turn the troubles of this life from woes into blessings, and allow me to receive a rest that you and you alone can give.”
There is truly no greater way to rest at night, than to do so knowing we are always resting in the arms of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ.
